PHOTO: Money laundering through property
The flood of black money into Australia proceeds apace, pushing up property prices, as the government dithers on its international pledge to enact money-laundering laws. Callum Foote and Michael West report.
Governments of both stripes have been hemming and hawing for 15 years over the introduction of money-laundering laws, laws which would stem the flood of black market money into Australia’s property market; laws which would finally drag this nation into line with global standards on AML-CTF (that’s the regulatory vernacular for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing).
Yet thanks to lobbying and political donations, thanks to the government’s complete failure to stand up to powerful vested interests – lawyers, accountants and property developers – we are still waiting for Tranche II, laws supposed to be enacted by 2008.
